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Eight GTI facts you should know!

Reading time 5 Min.

Eight GTI facts you should know!

Photo credit: Volkswagen (VW)

It's often red, has seats with a checkered pattern and doesn't just look sporty - that's how much most people know about the Golf GTI. Many exciting stories and facts have accumulated over the past 45 years. We wrote them down!

Fact 1: GTI engine with four cylinders

Typical of the GTI: To this day, a robust four-cylinder petrol engine ensures maximum driving pleasure. Started in 1976 as an injection engine with 110 hp, the new Golf GTI engine has more than twice as much power - a strong 245 hp! The Golf 1 went from zero to 9,2 km / h in an impressive 100 seconds and the speedometer needle only stopped at 182 km / h. Middle-class sedans at that time struggled to crack the 160 km / h. By the way: With the new Golf GTI, the forward thrust only ends at 250 km / h (electrically sealed off).

Eight GTI facts you should know!

Fact 2: Every GTI generation has a unique rim design

Rim and tire combinations are the decisive link in a vehicle in order to bring the drive performance ideally onto the road. Particularly important, for example, with the current 300 PS GTI spearhead, the Golf GTI Clubsport, which comes with an innovative driving dynamics manager and the new “Nürburgring” driving profile. Also visually important: rims make up almost 50 percent of the overall appearance of a vehicle. And there have been quite a few in the last GTI decades - here's an overview!

Fact 3: 5.000 Golf GTIs planned, now more than 2,3 million built

Anton Konrad, Volkswagen Press Officer at the time: "We were aiming for a sporty series-production Volkswagen with understatement, built in an edition of 5.000 units that could be used both for shopping and on the racetrack." The sales department was before the presentation at the IAA 1975 critical: “You are not selling 500 of this GTI!” He was proven right: In the end, no 500 Golf GTIs were sold, but over two point three million since then!

Eight GTI facts you should know!

Fact 4: European aesthetics meet comfort

Star designer Giorgetto Giugiaro created the tin dress for the Golf in Turin, Herbert Schäfer, the head designer at the time, installed the legendary red GTI trim in Wolfsburg and the iconic check pattern was invented by the first woman in design at Volkswagen - Gunhild Liljequist. She found inspiration on her trip to Great Britain in London. Black was sporty, but she was looking for a second color that looked powerful and of high quality - and decided on red. The golf ball-look gear knob on the 4-speed gearbox was also her idea. In the eighth generation Golf GTI, it comes as standard with the 6-speed manual transmission. But it can also be optionally ordered with a 7-speed dual clutch transmission and shift-by-wire.

Eight GTI facts you should know!

Fact 5: three-spoke valance already on the legendary "spittoon steering wheel"

Immediately ready to go: The Golf GTI has a new multifunction sports leather steering wheel with touch controls, perforated leather and GTI clasp. The Golf 1 GTI already had such a three-spoke valance: in fan circles - because the Wolfsburg logo was housed in the strong recess - it was affectionately known as the “spittoon steering wheel” and is now a sought-after collector's item.

Eight GTI facts you should know!

Fact 6: Golf GTI Cabrio? Yes, it was in the sixth generation

Topless on the Golf 6 GTI: the fabric top on the Golf GTI Cabrio opened electro-hydraulically in 9,5 seconds and closed up to 30 km / h in eleven seconds. With the roof closed, it was 237 km / h. The GTI Cabrio was officially the “most powerful open Volkswagen” even in the last few months before it was hired! Of course, the Porsche 918 Spyder or the Lamborghini Huracán Spyder were still at the top of the range throughout the Group, but after the Golf R Cabrio was eliminated, the Golf GTI Cabrio was the fastest that last came from Wolfsburg without a roof.

Eight GTI facts you should know!

Fact 7: Two world brands meet in 2012 - in the Golf GTI adidas

Quoting straight from the brochure: “Your trainer recommends 30 minutes of exercise a day. Fortunately, he didn't say with what. ”Anyone who was quick enough in 2012 could secure one of the Golf GTI adidas, limited to 4.410 units. Seats were then taken on sports seats embroidered with the “adidas” logo, with the typical three “adidas” stripes running across the middle section.

Eight GTI facts you should know!

Fact 8: The first GTI that communicates

More progressive than ever: The current Golf - and thus also the Golf GTI - is the first production vehicle from Volkswagen to be equipped with Car2X communication. Other vehicles automatically warn of impending dangers within milliseconds via WLANp connection, such as the end of a traffic jam or danger spots. The innovative driving dynamics manager ensures a performance plus. So you are not only sporty with the Golf GTI, you also benefit from improved safety. Side fact: a current Volkswagen contains ten times more software than a current cell phone.

Eight GTI facts you should know!

Don't worry, of course that was far from being the case when it came to auto / auto tuning. Our magazine still has tens of thousands other tuning reports in stock. Do you want to see them all? Then just click HERE and look around. Or are you particularly interested in everything to do with the manufacturer Volkswagen (VW)? Then the following excerpt with other vehicles is definitely the right one.

VW Golf 2 with VR6 engine on the Nürburgring!

Eight GTI facts you should know!

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Eight GTI facts you should know!

VW Phaeton 3.0 TDI (GP3) on 20 inch RH WM102 rims!

Eight GTI facts you should know!

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About Thomas Wachsmuth

Thomas Wachsmuth - He has been an integral part of tuningblog.eu since 2013. His passion for cars is so intense that he invests every available penny in them. While he dreams of a BMW E31 850CSI and a Hennessey 6x6 Ford F-150, he currently drives a rather inconspicuous BMW 540i (G31/LCI). His collection of books, magazines and brochures on the subject of car tuning has now reached such proportions that he himself has become a walking reference work for the tuning scene.  More about Thomas

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